The Bryan Talbot fanpage is also on Twitter
And we are also on Instagram:
Grandville Force Majeure
annotations - batch 8
This is similar in concept to the Directors Cut of Heart of Empire that Bryan and myself created: it is an attempt to answer the eternal "where do you get your ideas from?" question, and a way to showcase the influences and images that went into the creation of Grandville.
We are publishing updates to this page every Sunday and we will cover the entire Grandville series: we have already completed the annotations for Grandville, Grandville Mon Amour, Grandville Bête Noire and Grandville Noël - and in case you missed them, check out the first batch of Grandville Force Majeure annotations.
Start reading the Grandville Force Majeure annotations below, or jump straight to page 120, page 124, page 126, page 127, page 128, page 131, page 132, page 144 and page 145.
Page 120
Madame Moue returns. See the first .
Page 124
Panel 9
Hotchkiss was an arms manufacturing company based in Paris, established in the 19th century by U.S. gunsmith Benjamin B Hotchkiss.
Page 126
Panel 2
LeBrock’s styling cream is a reference to the Dapper Dan brand of pomade, popular in America from the 1920s to the 1940s and featured in the Coen Brothers film O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Page 127
On page 158, panel 3, Quimby Quail tells us of the many tools hidden it LeBrock’s custom-made coats, including fast-acting knockout drops.
Panel 8
“Lucifers”: To quote Wikipedia:
“(Britain, archaic) A self-igniting match, ie. one which could be lit by striking on any surface (as opposed to safety matches which only light against the material on the side of the box).”
From Lucifer, meaning “bringer of light, it was originally the name of a specific brand of matches made from 1830.
Madame Moue’s cigarettes are the old French brand Gauloise Disque Bleu.
Page 128
Panel 4
The main lobby of Koenig’s establishment, continuing my fantasy version of the real Hell Club (see page 82 annotations). The pentacle and goat head design sculpted above the door is based on The Sigil of Baphomet, symbol of the Church of Satan, an adaptation of an illustration that first appeared in La Clef de la Magie Noire by Stanislas de Guaita in 1897.
According to Wikipedia, The Sigil of Baphomet first appeared on the cover of The Satanic Mass in 1968, but here it is on the cover of A Pictorial History of Magic and the Supernatural by Maurice Bessy, a book that I bought when I was thirteen that’s copyrighted 1961. This is the cover of the English edition, first published 1964.
Page 131
Panel 4
This panel was used as a cover for Big Issue North magazine.
Page 132
Panel 4
The wall is decorated with a version of an illustration of a Sabbatic Goat created by Eliphas Levi (1810 – 1875), often called The Goat of Mendes.
Page 139
Panel 6
“Calf head”: a French insult (tête de veau, lit. head of veal).
Page 144
Panel 3
The French policemen we’ve seen previously were swallows (Les Hirondelles – an old French nickname for caped bicycle cops). Here, there are also a couple of hens, Les Poules being another derogatory term for police officers.
“Badgers have remarkably hard skulls”: this is true.
Page 145
Panel 2
“Confusion in an opponent’s ranks is worth a regiment”: I think this is attributable to Napoleon, but I can’t find it anywhere.
Panel 3
This sort of rudimentary firestarter is listed in The Anarchist’s Cookbook by William Powell (1971), a catalogue of sabotage and disruptive techniques, intended to be used as part of the protests against the Vietnam War.
Now see the ninth - and final! - batch of Grandville Force Majeure annotations.